Sandra Fluke nominated for Time's Person of the Year

Sandra Fluke is the 31-year-old attorney who as a law student was publicly called a “slut” by Rush Limbaugh for demanding to testify before a House hearing on contraception. She has now been nominated as Person of the Year by Time magazine.

Recall that what got Limbaugh's and the right's ire up was that Fluke dared to argue that insurance coverage for birth control pills should be free for poor students. Limbaugh's response, as stated, was to loudly, lewdly, and for three days running, label Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute."

Following Limbaugh’s appellations, he faced immediate and severe public outcry (including from the president). Boycotts of his radio show and its sponsors took off -- with some notable successes.

Fluke’s presence and stature as a women’s rights advocate, on the other hand, soared into the stratosphere. Indeed, she later became an Obama surrogate and delivered a prime time speech at the Democratic National Convention. (See, attached video clip).

As might be expected, the announcement of her nomination has sent the right wing into a collective conniption fit, and the conservative media is having a field day damning not just Fluke’s nomination, but the whole idea of the nomination ("Person of the Year") as well.

“Just when you think Time magazine can’t make any more of a mockery of itself, they nominate Sandra Fluke, contraception advocate extraordinaire, as a candidate in their Person of the Year 2012 poll,” wrote Ben Shapiro for Breitbart.com. “Leave it to Time to make her its Person of the Year. Of course, in the year of the dependent American voter, they might be right.”

Or how about this from the conservative blog WND US?

“Fluke is apparently unable to figure out how to purchase low-cost birth control from places like Target, Walmart or her local pharmacy. Still, Time magazine felt she was qualified enough to include her with legitimate newsmakers and leaders who are significantly more deserving of the award and recognition.”

Opinion:

It is important to note that Fluke's main detractors are, as usual, middle-aged, white males. And it’s also worth noting that these guys are, to a man, vehemently opposed to not just free contraception for women but abortion as well.

The recent election helps explain why so many white males are so absolutely and unalterably opposed to abortion. The social critic and comedian Dick Gregory used to tell a joke that, “the one thing America will never run out of is white folks.” November 6 showed that Gregory was probably more than a little premature. The fast-changing demographic statistics are now widely available and fairly well known, so I will not rehash them here -- except for one number. Yes, America is growing darker and darker with each passing day. 50,000 Hispanics turn 18 every month. That number represents not merely a "change" in the political, social, cultural, and economic face of America; but, in a real sense, it signals a slow-motion and bloodless re-conquest of America by it's original owners.

And, white males are reading the handwriting on the wall just as well, if not better than, anybody else. They are disappearing right before our eyes -- right before their own eyes. They understand better than most, therefore, that the practice of abortion and birth control by "their" women only serves to speed up the process of their diminution and...ultimate elimination from the body politic altogether.

Sandra Fluke thus represents and embodies many, but by no means all, of the primordial fears and insecurities of white male privilege and patriarchy. Understand that she is at least a third generation, completely 21st century, forward-looking “liberated” woman. She (and her generation) flatly refuse to “go back,” as she put it at the Democratic Party Convention, to an age when women, like children, were seen but not heard. And so Fluke’s Time Magazine nomination is for a great many white males another nail in their patriarchal and privileged coffin.

Corporate Links

BrandSpace by PulsePoint

BrandSpace is a venue for our best sponsored content to be featured on
Allvoices.com.
PulsePoint is a leader in the content marketing space, and our stable of great content
creators helps our partners reach and connect to their desired audience. BrandSpace is
where that content lives.

About PulsePoint

We want to give our buyer and seller clients priority access to smarter impressions across
the web so they have better targeting, better insights, and better ROI. We do this
through impression-level transparency on proprietary audience, content and
engagement data segments.

Writer Community

Our writers come from all walks of life, from full-time freelancers looking to build a larger
following to desk jockeys who want to keep the creative juices flowing. Allvoices’ writers are
passionate and insightful, and they have unique perspectives about a variety of subjects.

To write on Allvoices you must apply and be selected by our team of editors. Once chosen, you can
write on your own schedule about what you are interested in — and get paid!